Seven Items

Poulos has some election day ruminations:

...it’s ridiculous to hold Obama’s election over the heads of those who would dare to vote against him: taking away every nonwhite kid’s shot at true self-esteem! HOW DARE YOU?!?! etc.

And indeed, I’ve heard it put this way not just a matter of inspiring black kids (which of course is an awesome idea that all of us should be more involved in), but "hispanic, native American…". Unclear again whether Asians make the cut, even though on NPR a few days ago some savvy character was insisting quite reasonably that he considered Obama, given his upbringing, to be Asian American, not African(-)American. People who won’t vote for Obama because they disagree with him aren’t shattering anyone’s dreams. If that’s what politics has become in this country you annihilated my future! – then we really do need a long collective night in the drunk tank. Anyway, some but not all, but still too much, of the Obama enthusiasm is keyed to a different tense: the present, not the future, the in-the-moment and of-the-moment, not the year after tomorrow. Obama knows his election wouldn’t chase politics itself out of Washington in addition to the sitting administration.